


Essay About Candy and George

by LightDarkPheonix



Category: Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
Genre: Did this for English class, English Homework, Essay, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-07
Updated: 2013-03-07
Packaged: 2017-12-04 14:55:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/711989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LightDarkPheonix/pseuds/LightDarkPheonix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a project I did for English class. I had too talk about how Candy and George each demonstrate the human need for companionship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Essay About Candy and George

Essay question: How do the characters in Of Mice and Men demonstrate the human need for connection to someone or something. 

Steinbach's characters in Of Mice and Men, all the characters show an almost desperate need for companionship. Candy, the one-handed swamper and George, Lenny’s companion best illustrate this. They both find themselves in a situation where they are primary caregivers to creatures that can not fend for themselves; Candy to his dog and George to Lenny. Even though these “creatures” are oftentimes nuisances, their need for companionship gives both of them a reason to put up with them.   
Candy is a swamper. This means he does odd jobs around the ranch. We first see him with an old dog beside him. One of Candy’s first lines of dialogue is when he says that the dog was a good hunting dog when he was younger. Candy only has one hand, having lost the other in an accident, and this must make it hard to care for a dog that is nearly incontinent. In nature, a creature like Candy’s dog would have been left in the woods to die or be eaten, but Candy refuses to let the dog die. He claims that it is because it would be cruel to do so. It seems that Candy is keeping his dog alive more of out selfish than selfless reasons. When Carlston, a worker at the ranch, ends up shooting the dog, Candy barely reacts. All he does when he hears the shot is turn over on his side, facing the wall. Steinbach shows us without saying so that he is sad. We are left to guess if he is sad because of the loss of connection to something, or truly because the dog is dead. Most migrant workers keep to themselves, not trusting anyone, barely speaking to anyone. This is not a way for friendship to grow. Candy is very lonely, without any real friends at the ranch. In the end, that’s why he wants to join George and Lenny’s dream. Candy has this dream, but until George and Lennie show up, Candy does not think it could ever work. But now they are three, and for a little while, Candy could dream that maybe he would live a better life, somewhere else. That is why he shows such anger towards Curly’s wife once she is dead. Candy believes that if she had not provoked Lenny, then maybe she’d be still alive, and Lenny would not be at that moment being chased by a lynch mob, and Candy would still have the dream. He would still have something to hold onto. “I could of hoed in the garden and washed dishes for them guys [...] [i]f they was a circus or a baseball game... we would of went to her... jus’ said ‘ta hell with work,’ an’ went to her. Never ast nobody’s say-so. An’ they’d of been a pig and chickens... an’ in the winter... the little fat stove... an’ the rain comin’... an’ us jus’ settin’ there.” (95)

George is the brain to Lenny’s brawn. He is the one who finds them jobs, and he is a sort of caregiver to the mentally stunted Lenny. George has more than once complained about Lenny. He’s yelled at him, and left him by himself, but he’s never actually left Lenny. It’s obvious that George feels some sort of affection for Lenny, probably of the paternal sort, but it is just as obvious that he sticks with him out of the necessity for friendship. “Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family [...] with us it ain’t like that. We got a future. We go somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us.” (14) Lenny’s bedtime story is that they will one day have a place of their own. This is their dream. George is also willing to let Candy and Crooks in on the dream. While Crooks ends up opting out, Candy stays. Candy even makes the dream even more possible because he’s willing to give some of the money he has been given as a settlement for losing his hand. Then there is the penultimate scene where George shoots Lenny. Right before he shoots Lennie, he starts once again reciting the story about the rabbits. Maybe, he thinks, if Lennie dies thinking of this dream he will die happier. George’s hand shakes right before he kills Lennie. When Candy approaches him later about the dream, George has become bitter, and refuses to talk about it. George stays with Lenny because he needed the companionship, because he did not want to be alone want to be alone.   
It is probably best shown by the first line of the story he tells. “Guys like us, that work on ranches are the loneliest guys in the world...”


End file.
